Meanings
- idiomaticnot comparableill or gloomy, especially from a cold or flu.
[…] I met a stranger, a quiet little man, who also had been under the weather from malaria.
1907 May, Andy Adams, “The School of Experience”, in Reed Anthony, Cowman: An Autobiography, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge, →OCLC, page 151Synonyms: off one's feed, out of sorts
- idiomaticnot comparableSomewhat intoxicated or suffering from a hangover.
I was a bit under the weather last night: out with a party of friends, you know. Dare say we all had a bit more than we could carry.
1907, Louis Joseph Vance, The Brass Bowl, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, publishers, →OCLC, pages 128–129Synonyms: out of sorts
- idiomaticnot comparableobsoleteExperiencing adversity.
The Hawkinses are under the weather now, but their Tennessee property is millions when it comes into market.
1873, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens]; Charles Dudley Warner, chapter XIX, in The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-day, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; Chicago, Ill.: F. G. Gilman, →OCLC; republished Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, 1874, →OCLC, page 178Synonyms: out of sorts
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveill or gloomy, especially from a cold or flu.
adjectiveSomewhat intoxicated or suffering from a hangover.
adjectiveExperiencing adversity.
somewhat ill or gloomy
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivesomewhat ill or prone to illness
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From under the weather bow (“affected by bad weather; seasick”); weather bow is a nautical term referring to the side of a ship exposed to bad weather.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan no estar fi, no estar fina
- no estar fisomewhat ill
- no estar finasomewhat ill
- piocsomewhat ill
Finnish huonovointinen
- huonovointinensomewhat ill
French ne pas être dans son assiette, patraque
- ne pas être dans son assiettesomewhat ill
- patraquesomewhat ill
German angeschlagen, niedergeschlagen
- angeschlagensomewhat ill
- niedergeschlagensomewhat ill
- bedrücktsomewhat ill
- angegriffensomewhat ill
Hindi तबीयत ढीली होना
- तबीयत ढीली होना (tabiyat dheeli hona)somewhat ill
Icelandic veikur, slappur
- veikursomewhat ill
- slappursomewhat ill
Irish meath-thinn
- meath-thinnsomewhat ill
Italian indisposto, fuori fase
- indispostosomewhat ill
- fuori fasesomewhat ill
- sofferentesomewhat ill
Japanese 体調が悪い
- 体調が悪い (taichō ga warui)somewhat ill
Māori ngātoro
- ngātorosomewhat ill
Norwegian hanglete, halvsjuk
- hangletesomewhat ill
- halvsjuksomewhat ill
- halvsyksomewhat ill
- kleinsomewhat ill
- skrantensomewhat ill
- skrantetesomewhat ill
- tufssomewhat ill
- tufsensomewhat ill
- tufsetesomewhat ill
- uggensomewhat ill
- urvensomewhat ill
Polish chory, niewyraźny
- chorysomewhat ill
- niewyraźnysomewhat ill
Portuguese indisposto
- indispostosomewhat ill
Russian не по себе́, нездоро́вый
- не по себе́ (ne po sebé)somewhat ill
- нездоро́вый (nezdoróvyj)somewhat ill
- приболе́вший (pribolévšij)somewhat ill
Slovak necítiť sa vo svojej koži
- necítiť sa vo svojej kožisomewhat ill
Spanish indispuesto, pachucho
- indispuestosomewhat ill
- pachuchosomewhat ill
- maluchosomewhat ill
- malucosomewhat ill
- malmarrientosomewhat ill
Swedish krasslig, risig
- krassligsomewhat ill
- risigsomewhat ill
- vissensomewhat ill
- småsjuksomewhat ill
Vietnamese ốm
- ốmsomewhat ill
Cite this entry
under the weather. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under%20the%20weather
“under the weather.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under%20the%20weather. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “under the weather,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/under%20the%20weather.
Source: under the weather on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.